Presidential Debate Moderators Set

Breaking: Drudge reports that the 2008 presidential debate moderators have been named.

According the the site, the moderators will be Jim Lehrer of PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, Gwen Ifill of PBS and Bob Scheiffer of CBS.

There is no announcement yet on the Commission on Presidential Debates website.

We’ll have more information as we get it…

> Update: It’s official. September 26 — Lehrer from Mississippi, VP debate October 2 — Ifill from Missouri, October 7 — Brokaw from Tennessee, October 15 — Schieffer from New York. The full press release, after the jump.

> Update, update: FishbowlDC reports Lehrer has hosted the first presidential debate every cycle since 1988.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., co-chairmen of the non-partisan Commission on
Presidential Debates (CPD), today announced the moderators for the 2008
general election presidential and vice presidential debates. The
moderators, and the schedule and locations for the debates (as announced on
November 21, 2007), are as follows:

First presidential debate
Friday, September 26
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
Jim Lehrer
Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS

Format
The format for the debates, announced on November 21, 2007, will be:

— Each debate will have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes. — In the first and third presidential debates and the vice
presidential debate, the candidates will be seated with the moderator at a
table.

— One presidential debate will focus primarily on domestic policy and
one presidential debate will focus primarily on foreign policy. The second
presidential debate will be held as a town meeting in which citizens will
pose questions to the candidates. The vice presidential debate will cover
both foreign and domestic topics.

— During the first and third presidential debates, and the vice
presidential debate, the time will be divided into eight, ten-minute
segments. The moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which
each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate
further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the
candidates for the balance of that segment.

— The participants in the town meeting will pose their questions to
the candidates after reviewing their questions with the moderator for the
sole purpose of avoiding duplication. The participants will be chosen by
the Gallup Organization and will be undecided voters from the Nashville,
Tenn. standard metropolitan statistical area. During the town meeting, the
moderator has discretion to use questions submitted by Internet.

— Time at the end of the final presidential debate will be reserved
for closing statements.

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